Ecommerce candidate expectations of the recruitment process

Hiring the best ecommerce talent is becoming increasingly competitive – they know their skills are highly sought after, so won’t stick around for an opportunity to come to them.

If you are confident in your ecommerce hiring process, that’s great! However, are you up to date with the expectations of candidates in the industry? Are you sure that you’re getting through the recruitment process not only in detail, but in a timely manner that candidates expect? It’s a hard balance to strike but it can be done!

Using findings from our 2018 ecommerce salary survey & insights report, we are going to look at how long ecommerce professionals expect the process to take and what they would do if expectations were not met.

How long do candidates expect the ecommerce recruitment process to take?

Ecommerce candidates, as we mentioned, are in high demand – we asked them how long they expect the recruitment process to take, from submitting their CV to receiving an offer. Here’s what they had to say…

As we can see, most respondents expect the process to take four weeks or less. 41% selected four weeks, while the 2% who selected other all expected a process of less than four weeks. This is a slight increase from 2017, but a huge leap from 2016 where only 27% expected a recruitment process of four weeks.

This shows us that in a two-year window, the ecommerce space has become extremely competitive – candidates seem to recognise this and expect a company to snap them up as quickly as possible. Looking at the other expectations, such as a six-week process, there hasn’t been a huge shift in the number of respondents who select these options.

Of course, candidate should understand that not every process will go to plan – if a company encounters a tricky ecommerce hiring process (not finding the right fit or provoking candidate interest), it will take longer. Despite this, companies should understand that potential employees may lose interest eventually.

A slow recruitment process: What would candidates do?

Should candidates move on if the recruitment process is too slow? Would they lose interest? We also asked our respondents what they would do if the length of the process did not match their expectations. Here’s what they told us…

• “I would approach the hiring manager for feedback.” – 36%
• “I would only wait for feedback if I loved the role / brand.” – 20%
• “I’d assume the brand wasn’t interested in me.” – 16%
• “I would have applied for loads of roles – I would have forgotten what the role was about.” – 13%
• “I’d forget about it - there are plenty of opportunities out there!” – 8%
• “I’d wait a week or two before looking elsewhere.” – 6%
• Other – 1% (answers include ‘continue applying for roles until I hear back’ and ‘pick up the phone’.)

Our top two answers have not changed much from 2017 – though approaching the hiring manager for feedback has seen a 6% increase. It seems ecommerce candidates are more comfortable approaching companies about the status of their application and all they really need are updates on what is happening.

As you can see, there are still a significant number of respondents who would simply move on from the role if there was a period of inactivity in the process. The important thing to take from this is that even a quick update will keep candidates engaged – if they haven’t been successful, let them know but if they are still in the running, be sure to send an update.

If you are using a recruitment agency, don’t forget that they can support your process if things are delayed. Keep them updated so that they in turn can keep the candidates happy if they’re getting a bit restless!

Let the pandas help!

If you're hoping for a speedy yet effective recruitment process, speak to the pandas today! We pride ourselves in helping our wonderful clients find the right person as quickly as possible!